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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Zaad's favourite Cook-ay baals!

I must be mad. Which 23-year-old makes cookie dough for dessert? Heavenly little bits of butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips and not much else, but still.

And why the heck did I not think of this before??

I've a confession to make. I eat batter ALL the time. Salmonella typhimurium is not a joke; apart from food poisoning, it can also lead to osteomyelitis (bone infection) and other systemic illness. If I chose to be scared of a tiny bacterium, though, it's a terrible way to live. Put your pinkie in, and have a little bite. You won't die. Especially if you've grown up in India.

(Note: This is NOT me speaking as a doctor! My medical advice would be to not eat any thing with eggs in it if it hasn't been heated to atleast 160 degrees Celsius.)

This is just me, speaking as the girl who makes raw cookie dough for dessert. Who'll do it again.

My excuse? I did it for the kids. They clamour around for brownie batter and cookie dough, but I have to shoo them away because the consequences would be disastrous. This recipe has NO EGG in it. And it's still freaking awesome. How is that possible?

I think they enjoyed them. My brother, who is dangerously close to 30, had no qualms about eating it, with the stick and all. He even snuck out at two in the night and stole one. The kids? See for yourself.

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Zaad's third "cook-ay ball" of the day! He's mad 'cause I wouldn't let him
eat and made him pose a 100 times.

1)Blitz the sugars in the mixie so they're still slightly crunchy, but not big fat granules.

2)Beat the sugars and butter (at room temperature!) using a hand-mixer until it looks like this.

It should take about 3 minutes at medium speed. It'll take longer with a wooden spoon, but man, you can afford to expend some calories if you're making this.

3)Add in the yoghurt, peanut butter (if using) and vanilla essence and beat for a minute more.

4)In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the butter mix, and beat for a minute.

5)Add the chocolate chips and walnuts and incorporate it into the batter with a spatula.

I found this the most difficult step of all.

I used a 250 gram bar of home-made Coorg chocolate for the chips and dipping sauce altogether (If I had bought Bournville, I'd be broke.) It took a lifetime to break it into chunks. Plus it kept mysteriously disappearing into my mouth.

And the walnuts. My hair turned half-grey by the time I could scoop the nuts out. I did not sign up for this. Next time, I'm buying the unshelled ones, expensive or not.

6)Line a freezer-proof tray with butter paper (no need to grease). Scoop out with the help of two spoons and make little dough balls. Put an ice-scream stick or toothpick into each one. Keep the tray in the freezer for atleast 3 hours, but preferably overnight.

7)Chop up roughly 150 g of chocolate. Microwave it in a microwave-safe, dry bowl for 3 minutes (stir at 1 minute intervals.) If you have loads of time, double-boil and melt the chocolate.